A CASE STUDY OF THE CONSERVATION OF THE POLYCHROMED WOODEN CHOIRLOFT OF THE SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY CHURCH AT CARABUCO, BOLIVIA

Abstract

The restoration of the seventeenth-century adobe church at Carabuco, Bolivia, offers a model of how to conduct the preservation of the Latin American cultural heritage at remote sites. This paper details the conservation of the church’s polychromed wooden choirloft, which had previously been restored in 1765-66 after this and other portions of the church collapsed. The choirloft is made oflocally grown eucalyptus wood painted all over with a tempera-based medium. It was executed by a local artist whose style draws on local folk-art traditions while reinterpreting European Renaissance decorative schemes. The choirloft conservation project had two goals: to guarantee its structural integrity and to stabilize the decorative paint layers. These goals were accomplished in a four-month conservation project which formed part of a larger effort to restore the church.